A Heroine's Legacy, The Kimmunicator Gift
by Rye-bread
Summary: Another excerpt from the tale of Undead Kim.  Only this time, a tale of sweetness instead of horror.  Another step on the road back to Kim's redemption and humanity.
1. Chapter 1

I've been working on my Heroine's Legacy story for two years. And that's too long. As the Wizard of Oz says when he's contemplating taking Dorothy Gale back to Kansas in his hot air balloon, "You've forced me to a cataclysmic decision."

I'm fast-forwarding. Past the chapters I'm having writer's block issues with. I've been posting excerpts of chapters over at my DeviantArt account of Kim after the pivotal chpt…the breaking of her hatred.

I settle on a certain point in my narrative. Several months ago, my man whitem sent me a PM. He posited that Kim's great disability was not hatred. It was fear.

Actually, I had already been working on something like that…but you'll get the drift.

Consider this a story analogous to O. Henry's Gift Of The Magi.

Unlike my other Heroine's Legacy stories, this is not a horrid tale. This is a happy tale. A joyous tale. And yet not without its bittersweetness. Consider this an early Christmas gift.

In the timeline of the story, this tale takes place following Conversations From The Pit Of Hell.

Oh…and by the way…MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT. In case you have reservations about reading ahead in a story. I intended a happy ending for my Undead Kim along. But fear not. There are still surprises.

And so, without further ado.

_**A HEROINE'S LEGACY**_

_**THE KIMMUNICATOR GIFT**_

Kim heard the footsteps. Like a cat pouncing on a string, she was at the pipe. "Hello, Ron."

Ron head the enthusiasm in her voice. It was like a kid at Christmas. It was infectious. "Hello, Aunt Kim."

"I still love you...by the way."

Ron chuckled. "I'm glad. I'll never turn down a declaration of love. And I'll give it back in return. I've got the mad love for declarations of love."

His laughter provoked hers. "Oh, Ron...that sounds so spankin'! You sound as excited as your grandfather did when he was playing Zombie Mayhem with Felix Renton...or Roachie."

"What should we talk about tonight?"

"Hmm. I'm not sure."

"Aunt Kim, would you hold your hand out?"

"My hand? Why?"

"I have another gift for you."

"Another?" She laughed bashfully. "You'll spoil me."

"I hope so," he said earnestly.

Kim heard a rattling in the pipe. She almost laughed. This was like getting a prize from J.P. Bearymore's The article fell into her hand. Her eyes widened in amazement. It was an object she had not seen in more than six decades.

She held it up and stared at it. "It...it...it's a..." She cupped her hand over her mouth for a moment and swallowed the lump in her throat. "Ron...how did...when did..."

"I had Wilmont Load build it. He incorporated all the gizmos and gadgets his great-grandfather put into your original Kimmunicator."

And indeed it was...a Kimmunicator. By all appearances, an exact replica of her old one. As though it were a treasured relic, Kim clasped it to her breast. "Oh, Ron...," she whispered.

"Try it on."

Kim slipped it on her wrist.

"It's programmed with all your favorite books, music, movies, concerts, and television shows...including the Oh Boyz, Britina, M.C. Honey, Ballroom With 'B' Actors, Pals, Agony County, Teen Town Trauma, and The Memo Pad."

She scrolled through the menu of functions. Yes. She smiled to herself. It had all the familiar features...two-way communication...grapple hook and line...electromagnetic sensor scan diode...and...and...

"Uh...Ron...it...it generates a laser beam." Kim was shocked. The implications staggered her.

"Uh huh. Just like the various devices you carried at different times...the Kimmunicator class ring...your handheld penlight laser...and your handheld lipstick laser."

"Does it...can it...?"

"Yes, Aunt Kim. It'll cut through the cistern wall. You can have your freedom...if you want it."

"But…the barrier…the magic force field…the one your fam put up to keep me from…digging my way out."

"I removed it, Aunt Kim. This morning."

Kim felt dizzy at the enormity of the gift he was freely giving her. She had to lean against the wall.

She cupped her hand over her mouth. She needed no air, yet she felt breathless. She pressed her hand to her chest to still a heart that did not physically beat.

Her jail sentence was commuted. She had just been released. Sixty years of imprisonment had just ended, as abruptly as a snow day at school.

Forty years of confinement behind the Mystical Monkey barrier erected by Ron Stoppable. And the barrier had been lifted as suddenly as the opening of a window shade. "Ron...why?" She knew the answer to her question, but astonishment prompted her to aksk it anyway.

And he answered faithfully, according to her expectations. "Because I love you. Because I promised you could see the sunlight. Because, God willing, I'm going to see restored to you what my grandparents took away from you. Your life...your freedom...your happiness. You can leave the cistern. Today. This minute."

It was what Kim had dreamed of since the moment Tara had closed the cistern lid. And her nephew had placed the key in her hands. "Oh, Ron…oh my God...you really trust me."

"Yes. I do I told you...I'm here. The wall is all that separates you from the outside You can cut your way through in seconds and be here in the basement . Or you can cut through the ceiling slab and the gazebo deck and come into the house. I'll meet you at the back door. You can embrace me...or kill me."

The devilish little voice in her mind babbled. _It's a trick! Don't fall for it! Nothing's changed! You can't just walk out and rejoin society! Not the way you look!_ "Ron...I still look horrible. I'm still a monster."

"No, Aunt Kim. Not a monster. You're a heroine. You're Kim Possible. You've suffered a horrible fate. But I intend to give back what belongs to you. A heroine's legacy. I've asked Wilmont to discover if there's a scientific reason why this happened to you. And I'm studying the religious texts of history to see if I can discover a mystical reason. Anything is possible for a Possible, Aunt Kim...even coming back from this. I told you. I want you with me when I go to pay my respects at the graves of your parents...and your beloved. And your brothers are still alive. And lots of your old friends. We're Possible's, Aunt Kim...you and I. We can do anything."

Kim was breathless with astonishment. Everything her grandnephew had done was with the intent of this moment. She had to hug herself to keep from shaking with both terror and excitement. _Is this what Tara meant? My God...is he really going try and reverse the curse?_ Ron...I...I said it last night...but...I love you...I really do love you...and I don't deserve this..."

"You and Grandpa didn't deserve what happened to you...either of you. I'm just trying to make it right."

But Ron already heard the _Call Me, Beep Me_ tones. Like a kid at Christmas, Kim was trying her new toy. "Love you, Aunt Kim. Goodnight," he said softly, and went quietly upstairs.

_**to be continued**_


	2. Chapter 2

The name of this chpt is from the song The Way We Were, sung by Barbra Streisand, from the movie by the same name.

Ron Possible has nicknames for Mr. and Mrs. Dr. P., whom he knew in his youth: Grimpy and Granna.

_**A HEROINE'S LEGACY:**_

_**THE KIMMUNICATOR GIFT**_

_**chpt 2**_

_**mem'ries may be beautiful, and yet, / what's too painful to remember…**_

Everything Ron promised was contained in the Kimmunicator's data bank...and more.

Her life was there. The mission logs. All the home videos. The snapshots. Her first steps. Her birthdays. Her class pictures. The family vacations. The holidays. The Proms. Graduation. Even the video her father had prepared for high speed viewing when she had lost her memory. And using modern technology, the scenes had been rendered into a three dimensional holographic format.

Kim laughed. And wept.

Her nephew had included scenes of life's pageant as it had unfolded while she was buried. Her funeral. Her Beloved, Ronald Eugene Stoppable, held little Hana on his lap. The little girl looked up with big inquisitive eyes. The little voice was heard plainly over soft organ music. _"Bru-ther? Where Kay-pee?"_

And Ron had to answer with quivering jaw and tears flowing from his eyes, _"K.P.'s in Heaven, Hana."_

The little girl looked bewildered. _"Heben?"_

Ron looked like he would start bawling. _"Yeah, Hana. Heben."_

Kim institutively reached up toward the three-dimensional image. In that moment, the long-dormant babysitter longed to take the little girl and hug her desperately…

…Until she glimpsed the withered skeletal limbs she had for arms. Then she folded her arms on her chest and sulked furiously. At that particular time, more than fifty-five years ago, Kim was so not in "Heben." She was slowly rotting to death, in Regina King's backyard, under a slab of cement. In this damned mausoleum.

In a moment, the fit passed. And she continued to scroll through the recordings.

The years rolled by. There were her brothers' proms. Their high school graduations. Their college graduations. Their weddings. Their families.

Kim's parents gradually grew old. The grey appeared on James Timothy's temples. Anne's bright auburn hair faded to ashen grey. The lines on their faces deepened. Their shoulders stooped. James Timothy's tall erect bearing slowly wilted. His spirit slowly flagged.

There were moments Kim had to pause the recording and weep with despair.

There was Monique and Wade's wedding. Their children. Monique's funeral, after her murder. Then Wade's memorial service, after his death of grief.

Her parents' funerals. Cousin Joss' funeral, after her death, when Sheldon Director, aka Gemini, self-destructed the WorldWide Evil Empire headquarters. Such bittersweetness.

And also was the tale of the one who had been the cause of her misery. Tara René King. The Cheer Squad videos. There she was. At the games. At the Middleton Days. With Josh Mankey. At the junior prom. With Jason Morgan. At Lake Wannaweep. Making big defenseless eyes and little helpless screams in Ron's direction. It was sickening. It was pathetic.

There was Tara King's and Ron Stoppable's wedding. And the chronicle of Tara and Ron's children.

There were moments Kim reverted to her demonic anger. She screamed and railed at Tara and Ron's nuptials. She stalked and circled the holographic images while Tara and Ron traded their vows. She hissed and yowled like a frenzied cat at Tara.

"I, Ronald Eugene Stoppable, take thee, Tara René King, to be my lawful wedded wife-after God's ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony…"

"Ron!" screamed Kim. "Don't you hear me? I'm here. Please! Look at me!

"I, Tara René King, take thee, Ronald Eugene Stoppable, to be my lawful wedded husband-after God's ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony…"

"You bitch! You buried me alive! I'll kill you! I'll rip your hair out! I'll rip your eyes out! I'll take your head off! Just like he did to me!"

She freeze-framed the moment Tara said "I do" to Ron Stoppable. She circled Tara's three-dimensional image as the blushing bride, like a feral animal stalking its prey, hissing and snarling. She tried to leap on it and slash at it with her clawed fingers.

She snatched the Kimmunicator from her wrist and hurled it against the wall, screaming with her old crazed fury...

**..."Damn you, Tara! I hope to God you're burning in Hell! **_**YOU CHEAP FUKKING WHORE BITCH…!**_

...Only to take the device up again and clasp it to her breast, like a little girl cuddling her beloved toy, whispering, "I'm sorry...I'm sorry…I didn't mean it."

But Wilmont Load had made the thing sturdy. It withstood all her ferocity.

After the fit had passed, Kim huddled in the corner, sobbing. Ron…why did you do this to me? Why did you play me?" Did she mean Ron Stoppable for marrying her murderer? Or Ron Possible for reminding her?

And it was with a subdued and cowed behavior that Kim greeted her nephew on his next visit.

Kim heard the sound through of his arrival in the pump room.

"Hello, Aunt Kim," said the kind voice.

Kim had to suppress a sudden sob. The dear voice was like a lifeline. But she also had a score to settle…a burning question to be answered. She heaved a sigh. "Ron...I behaved like a total frikking fiend! I was absolutely freaking out! I was a monster all over again! Why did you let me see this...all the footage of your grandfather and Tara? Please tell me you knew what you were doing when you gave me this."

His voice was sad. "Yes, Aunt Kim. I could feel your anger last night. I anticipated you would react just the way you describe."

Kim wanted to vent again as she had earlier. She wanted to roar in infernal satanic anger. She wanted the walls to reverb ate with her unleashed horrid fury. But it came out a half sob...a frightened little squeak. "Ron…_why_?"

In the pump room, Ron knelt against the wall that faced the cistern. His aunt's plaintive little plea wrung his heart. He put his hand to the wall. He put his cheek to the wall. The yearning swelled in his chest. If only he could coax her out. If only he could enter the chamber to be with her. "Because you're my heroine, and I've promised to always tell you the truth. You don't deserve any less. Grandma's lies put you in that prison. And because it's necessary. You have sixty years of anger you have to get out of your system."

"Ron…! My anger was my defense mechanism! I know this sounds totally inconsistent...but...making myself angry enough to get out and kill Ron and Tara's children is what kept me alive! And now...I'm afraid to stay...but more afraid to come out! What am I supposed to do?"

Ron hesitated. "Aunt Kim...he began. _What do I tell her? _"It's...it's like your first day at Pre-K! You wanted to stay home and take care of your baby sister...but Grimpy told you what a wonderful time you would have once you made friends. Or...or...your first mission! Once you confronted a real 'danger major', you thought you were too braggy! Well...now you have a chance to do it all! It's win-win! You can meet a new friend...**and** take care of a child...**and** rescue someone! Me!"

"Ron!" she snarled. "You idiot!" Don't you understand?" And for just a moment, she sounded like the old tweaked Kim of old.

But it was temporary. "I can't do **anything** anymore! I'm the one who's trapped! I'm the child in the womb! I'm the stupid CuddleBuddy collector who got caught in the laser web!"

In desperation, Ron took out his Ronnunicator and began tapping the controls. "Aunt Kim...I'm coming in."

"You're…what?" Kim was baffled. _Coming in? What was he talking about? "_No! Wait! Tell me what you mean…!"

She received her answer. A glowing image materialized in the cistern. Kim huddled against the wall, deathly afraid.

The image took shape. She gasped. It was…it was…

His hair was long…gathered in a pony tail. His beard was full. Yet, for all that, he was _her_ Ron. The stickout ears. The long oval face. The lanky limbs. The baggy clothes. She had only glimpsed him through the pipe the first night he had talked to her.

And here he was in his wholeness. Her grandnephew was uniquely himself, yet indistinguishable from her heart's true love. His freckles, twinkling brown eyes, and goofy grin were ever-present, even after two generations. A perfect likeness of his grandfather. The voice that had stolen her hatred now had a face. He was a living icon of the one who had loved her, and then imprisoned her, and then loved her again.

Kim felt defenseless...exposed. It was too soon. She wasn't ready. She responded in animal panic, covering her face with her arms. **"Ron!"** she screeched in mortal terror. **"Don't look at me!"**

He knelt before her, in all his unmarred beauty. "I'm only projecting a hologram, Aunt Kim. And I can't see you. Only the physical outline of your bio-scan." He extended his hand. "Look...I'm not here...and I'm not a ghost. Just an image...a three-dimensional holographic image."

The splendor of his smile. The glory of his gaze. There was a lump in her throat. _Oh, God! I never really imagined…_

One who has confessed a religious doctrine all their lives becomes accustomed to repeating the words over and over, by rote. When confronted with a genuine visitation, it is a genuine shock. One who has listened to the voice of a favorite radio announcer always reacts with stunned surprise when finally beholding the announcer's face.

She suddenly realized how his presence night after night was, until now, only an academic exercise. Here was the reality. Living and breathing. Only feet away. No longer was the cistern protecting him from her. It was protecting her from him.

Kim reached out toward the image...then snatched her hand back, as though burned. She cringed further and drew her body into a tight little ball, her knees up to her chin. She hid her face in her arms.

Her voice was a frightened little plaint. "Ron...it's too much...please leave! If you love me…please leave!"

Dismay shown in the honest brown eyes. The image smiled sadly and slowly faded from view.

Kim took the Kimmunicator from her wrist and held it up to the pipe, like an offering. "Ron!" she pled in a subdued voice, "Please...take this back...I can't stand it. The sunlight. The memories. The Kimmunicator. I'm like the prisoner who's been locked up too long. I can't come out."

And the firm gentle refusal was equally subdued. "I can't take back what I've given you...any more than you can take back the effect you've had on me. You captured my heart the night I heard your voice. You've imprinted yourself on me, Aunt Kim. Now and forever, I'm bound to you."

There was a great sadness in his voice. An eternal sorrow, aching for consolation. Yet also a placid flowing river. Or a pond, mirror-like in its stillness. It had her father's authority, her mother's tenderness, and her nana's ancient venerability. It flowed around her, like a warm bath. It soothed her, like a deep massage.

Her own inner self rose up in protest. _It's a trick! He's playing you! Just like Tara did! Her and her fukking box of CuddleBuddies. Only with him, it's ferociously unethical Mystical Monkey mind control! Don't give in!_

Kim replied, out of all her sense of frustration and inadequacy. Her voice rose to a wail. "Ron...I know you don't mean it this way...but this is cruelty! You're teasing me! You're making promises you can't keep!" She choked back a sob.

In that moment, Kim both loved and bitterly resented her grandnephew for the gentle tyranny he exercised over her. His was the first face she had seen in completeness in decades. And it was a face of childlike love and eagerness. Everything he did only served to bond her heart more firmly to his.

Ron was aware of her feeling of powerlessness. It was coming through in her voice. And he felt his own inadequacy. He had indeed done the thing deliberately. His years as a teacher and his reading of clinical literature had convinced him that his great-aunt needed to work through her anger and hatred. He had no experts he could consult for such a dilemma as weaning a heart so lacerated with pain and so soaked with the venom of hate back to tenderness. His Sensei had given him her blessing and encouragement. But Yoriko-sama had no more insight into this matter than her student did.

_What was I thinking? I should have anticipated this! _He rebuked himself, calling himself the word she had called him. _I'm an idiot! I thought I had foreseen every eventuality!_

He was at a loss. _What do I do? What do I say? I was ready to put up with all her rage...but her sense of helplessness? _"Aunt Kim..." and he hesitated. 

_What should I tell her, Lord? Grandpa...what would __**you**__ say to her?_

Ron began again. He spoke slowly and softly. "Aunt Kim...watch it again tonight. Pay close attention to your junior prom…the night your love came to fruition. Then watch your funeral. Then my parents' wedding…the marriage of the girl named after you, and the son of your brother Tim. The union of two families. The marriage that should've been you and my grandfather. Look closely at the man you love as he beholds the daughter with your name. See into his eyes.

"And…it you can endure it…even watch the wedding of the man you love and the woman who sealed you up in that cistern. From the time you disappeared, the light was gone out of his eyes. In their happiest years together, it was never there again. The only times it even came close to coming back was his kids were born. The eyes are the reflection of the soul, Aunt Kim."

Ron prayed desperately for his aunt's waning spirit. His heart cried out to the Father in Heaven, with unspoken groans, too deep even for conscious words.

And in the place that had intended for her tomb, Kim was continuing to experience a painful birth. Her nephew continued to astonish her. Not merely the voice...which could sound like his grandfather one moment and her father the next moment...not merely the face...the messy blond hair, the freckles, the big ears, the brown eyes...which made him a veritable clone of her Beloved...but the bow...the way he fell to his knee...like a knight before a Queen. And the gaze in his eyes. A word came to her mind for it. Adoration.

The impression that awakened in her heart with the beam of sunlight several nights ago awakened again...that she still had inner beauty. The realization of several nights before the sunlight also renewed itself. Within her nephew was contained all his ancestors...her Beloved...her brothers...her parents...her nana...and even her former Cheer Squad friend. It was in his eyes...his voice...his smile...his mannerisms.

She shivered. Every year while he was alive, Ron Stoppable offered to join her in the cistern. After him, Tara made the same offer. And after her, came this most remarkable young man, wielding a weapon against which Kim had no defense...love.

And it had come to pass. Ron Possible had come into the cistern. Unbidden, and even unwanted. Yet he came humbly, with lowly demeanor, like a mendicant, a begging friar. He sought the most simple of gifts, just assurance of her love. And he bestowed a holy man's peace and blessing.

He brought with him a sense of majesty. She was helpless before him. Her heart was in his hand.

But what he took, he also gave back. He had conferred a sense of majesty upon her. He had placed his heart in her hand...with his continual visits...and the gift of the Kimmunicator.

Kim took a deep breath. "I'll watch it again, Ron...like you asked."

Ron breathed a sigh of relief. In a way, it was like trying to coax Rufus with a naco...or his grandfather to accept Frederick, the Middleton Space Center monkey...or his aunt to accept Roachie. But he kept these thoughts to himself. "Badical!" he said.

And in her place, Kim stifled a giggle. The way he spoke the single word...it sounded so like her Beloved...it made her heart melt. If she had been able, she would have shed tears of joy. "Ron? Will you be back? Tomorrow?"

"Yes, Aunt Kim. I'll always come back for you. Until the day I die. I love you. Good night."

"G-good night, Ron. I love you, too."

And what her nephew told her was true. The light she knew in the eyes of her Beloved...the light she had seen in the eyes of his grandson...had disappeared after she disappeared.

Kim huddled in the corner and wept quietly. "Oh, Ron...I miss you...I love you...please...somehow...talk to me...in my dreams...in my heart."

_**to be continued**_


	3. Chapter 3

We arrive to the nexus from whence this tale germinates. (Gad! So The Drama! I'm utterly addicted to dramatic pronouncements. I should just say, _"This chpt. was sort of the starting point for why I wrote this particular fic."_)

Let me explain. This chpt. Is one of the segments of the story arc I've already published at my DeviantArt-dot-com account, as part of the "Preview Of Coming Attractions".

As I said in the chpt 1 notes, the reason for submitting this story was my concerns that I was taking so long with the parent story. I was going to submit this story at DeviantArt. But I figured my loyal readers deserve at least a few breaks. So, I apologize to those who might've already seen it.

The prelude, from the chpt. entitled The Virtual Grandfather, is a flashback.

In chpt 3, of my parent tale, A Heroine's Legacy, I mention Ronald Zimmer Possible talking to his grandfather while he was growing up...but then I have his grandfather dying off before he was born in chpt 4. Oops. That's what the Glacially Slow Writer gets for the infrequent updates...he loses the thread. But he also loves the drama of a death scene. So I sat and thought...and came up with this.

I owe the concept of a holographic interface with a individualized-responsive subroutine to the Inheritance episode of Star Trek-The Next Generation and the movie I, Robot. It is an outgrowth of Isaac Asimov's concept of the positronic brain (consult the Wikipedia entry; most illuminating) and doubtless has found its way into any number of stories...like the K.P. episode, Monkey Fist Strikes.

I also borrowed from Naked Genius and Grudge Match...as you will see. And I most gratefully acknowledge my man and fellow K.P. fan author The Enduring Manchild for his gracious lend of a pairing he formulated in his story, Too Good To Be True: Vivian Frances Porter and Bueno Nacho Ned. It is one more facet I have incorporated into my Heroine's Legacy story arc.

And Lon Stoppable, Lorrie Mankey, and Brian Rieger are the creation of my fellow fanauthor, daccu65, upon whose story Family Legacy is my entire story arc based.

Taken together, the two parts of this chpt, are inspired by Monkey Fist Strikes and many episodes of Star Trek TNG, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, etc., where the plot device of an interactive hologram is used.

The chpt name is from the same song as the last chpt.

_from _

_**A HEROINE'S LEGACY**_

_**the virtual grandfather**_

_Ronald Eugene Possible inquired of his oldest son. "Lon...why are you videotaping me all the time?"_

_And Alonzo Stoppable, aka Lon, answered for what seemed the umpteenth time. "Dad...don's you remember? It's for my school project. I have to make an interactive virtual clone of my favorite role model. And I picked you.. So the more samples I can get of visual references like your movements and facial expressions, and audio references like your voice, the better the program can render the data and simulate how you look and act ."_

_Ron shook his head and sighed. It made his head spin.. "I rocked at games when I was your age...but now even the games are too complicated for me. They're more than I can deal with. "_

_Lon protested. "Dad...you're still a rockin' gamer! But for future reference...they haven't used videotape since, like, before I was born."_

_Ron chuckled to himself. "Interactive virtual clones...things sure have changed since I was in high school." And in this, he sounded much like his old father figure...James Timothy Possible._

_Lon was terribly stuck on his classmate Lorrie Mankey. But she was an overachiever. And fellow classmate Brian Rieger, also an overachiever, was also making a play for her. So Lon did a desperate thing. In order to impress her, and be around her more often, he signed up for the advanced computer science class. _

_Lorrie Mankey had her father Josh's academic abilities. And Brian Rieger has his father Ron's academic gifts. And Lon…he could keep up…at least until this latest assignment. He was running into a brick wall with this project…his own learning curve. Like his father, he sometimes had first-rate plans but second-rate performance. So he went to a computer resource his family had depended on for several decades...the Load family._

_Subsequent to Coach Barkin's revelations to Lon that Lon's father had at one time been a partner to the deceased superhero Kim Possible, acquaintances had been renewed between the two families._

"_Hi, Lon. What up?" asked Wynan Load, son of Wade._

"_Wynan, I got this idea for a school project...and the teacher said I could have outside help...as much outside help as I could get."_

_Wynan was hesitant. "Lon, I appreciate being asked by you. I'm really flattered. But you could ask the Possibles. You know...the twins and their dad. And ...well...it's kinda hard to explain. There's this thing in the family history. My dad wasn't too keen on helping anyone with homework after that mission with your dad and Dr. Zeruda."_

"_You mean the one involving Project Phoebus. That could make someone a temporary super genius."_

"_Yeah. That one. Lemme explain. I'll tell you what my dad told me. First, tutoring your dad made him feel like banging his head on the keyboard. Then, he was really mad at your dad for letting people think he was a super genius. And…I'm gonna confide in you…cause he confided to me...underneath, he was really upset that somebody who was artificially smart could show him up so easily."_

"_You mean Rufus."_

"_Yeah. You gotta understand, Lon. Even though Dad was a super genius himself, he still had to work his butt off...and his family didn't have a ton of cash for college. Back in those days the colleges weren't handing out the scholarships to an agoraphobic black kid whose folks ran a storefront mission and soup kitchen."_

"_Dude, I hear you. I can so understand where you're coming from with the whole honesty and ethical thing. I don't want you to screw with how you feel. Honest."_

"_That's good to hear. I'm glad you feel that way."_

"_But..."_

"_...But..." Wynan braced his resolve. He could be as softhearted as his father. If Lon were a bully, or a pure slacker, it would be easy to say no. But he had his father Ron's most conspicuous qualities...a persistent goodwill and likable goofiness, _

"_Well...my situation is hard to explain, too. All the Possible family geniuses are helping Ron...including his cousin Larry. "_

"_Ron?" asked Wynan, puzzled._

"_Yeah. Tim's son. The one my sister likes. He's younger than us…around her age."_

"_Your sister Kim."_

"_Yeah."_

_Wynan had to take a moment to collect his thoughts. Writing software for something like random selection was a simple task compared to mastering the naming schemes of the Stoppable and Possible families. 'Jon'…'Ron'…'Lon'…'Zimm'…'Mim'…'Slim'…'Jim'…'Tim'…'Kim'...and an occasional 'Joss' tossed in. He wanted to bang his own on the keyboard for thinking of the word 'toss'. And now the two families were naming their kids after each other. He was thankful that at least his own family kept to a simple format…'Wayne'…'Wade'…'Wynan'…'Washonda'. _

"_Yeah," Lon said. "Dad has told me how he could be a slacker. He said something about 'overstaying his welcome' with the Possibles. So I kinda knocked on other doors before I came to you." He took a breath. "Lemme be up front, Wynan. I've already made some rounds. I had to get inventive. I've talked to Dr Zeruda. He didn't tell me how to upload brainwaves to a device, or download them back to another's brain. That's still classified. But he did tell me how to digitize them, and convert them to a format compatible with zip drive for more compact storage. And there's Dr. Freeman. "_

_Wynan swallowed. "__**The **__Dr. Freeman? The eccentric inventor from here in Middleton? Who programmed his household appliances with Artificial Intelligence and individualized personalities?"_

"_Uh huh. That Dr. Freeman. He said he would help with the AI of my interactive holo. I just needed some pointers with the mannerisms. Your dad's work with virtual clones is textbook stuff, Wynan."_

_Wynan was rather taken aback. Lon had shown much resourcefulness. He had realized his shortcomings and capitalized on his strengths. He thought about how Ron Stoppable had helped his father Wade Load with courting his mother, Monique Watson. He thought about how Wade Load's early version of the Kim Possible virtual clone was so realistic, it almost precipitated a fatal encounter with Montgomery Fiske, who had gone from enterprising explorer and scholar to ruthless master criminal. Maybe the scales needed a little balancing on both sides. "Lon...I'll be straight with you, too. I don't know I could do more for you than those guys did. But I'll tell you who to see."_

_There was one more scientist...who had been strangely overlooked by the Possibles...a scientist who had pioneered in writing behavioral algorithm software...a colleague of James Timothy Possible. And with her came an unexpected bonus...her prodigy husband. Lon went to their home. "Dr. Porter...and Mr. Flounder...I'm super glad you could help me with this project."_

"_I'm more than happy to, Lon," said Dr. Porter. "Your father helped me when I was in some rough circumstances. He and a friend helped me when I was just starting out as a lab partner at the Middleton Space Center."_

_Lon frowned._

_And Dr. Porter smiled. "You look skeptical, Lon."_

"_Dr. Porter...my dad can do a lotta things...but help one of the world's leading robotics scientists?"_

_She laughed. "It's a long story. He once said he preferred to keep his part in the whole situation a secret...didn't want to people to think I acquired my professional reputation on my good looks."_

I can believe that_, thought Lon. Even as a middle-aged scientist, Vivian Frances Porter was endowed with stunning beauty. _

_But her genius was undeniable. And the personality upgrades she was able to supply to Lon's virtual interactive clone project spelled the difference between a high school student's Artificial Intelligence assignment devoid of soul and a warm, caring, astonishingly human persona._

_Lon aced his project. He got the highest grade in the class. He would have won Lorrie Mankey's heart even without taking the advanced computer science and robotics class with her. He had his father's childlike heart and simplicity of soul._

_Brian R__ei__ger, unhappily, also inherited his father's traits; a penchant for dishonesty and cyber crime._

_In his final years, Ronald Eugene Stoppable lost much of his zest for life. Only his children, grandchildren, and close friends saw even a hint of the boyish humorous inner child that so characterized his early years. But after his untimely death, the class project that his son Alonzo Stoppable had spearheaded became a family legacy...a legacy that would shape the life of Alonzo's nephew, the son of his sister Kimberly, and his successor as the legendary Chosen of Yamanouchi...the Bearer of the Lotus Blade. _

_Plato, the philosopher of Athens, sat at the feet of Socrates his teacher, and Aristotle at the feet of Plato._

_In T.S. White's __The Once And Future King__, young Arthur, before he drew the sword Excalibur from the stone, sat at the feet of Merlin the wizard._

_Jason, before he assembled the Argonauts and embarked on a quest for the Golden Fleece, sat at the feet of Chiron the centaur._

_In the same way, the young man would sit at the feet of his grandfather long dead, and partake of an elder's wisdom._

_It would also prove to be of crucial importance in dealing with another family legacy...one spearheaded by Tara Stoppable...a legacy devoid of any trace of warmth and love...a nightmarish bloodcurdling legacy that rested unquiet under the gazebo in the Stoppable back yard._

_**A HEROINE'S LEGACY**_

_**THE KIMMUNICATOR GIFT**_

_**chpt 3**_

_**So it's the laughter we will remember, / Whenever we remember the way we were**_

Scrolling through the menu list, Kim saw a filename. Ronald Eugene Stoppable Interactive Holographic Simulation

A virtual clone? Like Drakken made of Wade? Like Wade made of himself? Was this her nephew's "virtual grandfather"? Her hands trembled as she activated the program.

A flickering beam issued from the Kimmunicator. And just like night before, an image formed.

Kim shied away, afraid for a moment that her grandnephew was breaking his promise about not spying on her through _his _virtual clone.

_Oh, dear God! _Kim cupped her hand over her mouth and began to sob. It was indeed her first Ron. An older Ron than her nephew. An older Ron than she knew before her entombment. Yet, a younger Ron than the one she had encountered that horrible Halloween, when Lon and Roy had intentionally set her free.

This Ron was in his late thirties...just before middle age. He had neither bulked up nor filled out. He was lean and muscular...a little more rugged. His hair was beginning to grey at the temples.

He was a man in the prime of his vigor and power. He had the bearing of the hero. Kim twisted her hands and ground her teeth in frustration. She groaned in desire denied. This was Tara's Ron as much as it was Kim's Ron.

The holo-Ron stared straight ahead. "Ron Stoppable Interactive Holographic Program," he announced, with an expressionless voice. "Copyright Wynan Load. For computer administrator Lon Stoppable."

Kim was both exhilarated and terrified. This was the virtual clone her grandnephew had referred to. She was thrilled to her very innermost heart. _It's only a hologram...it's only a hologram..._she told herself. But she couldn't keep the tremble out of her voice. "R-Ron? D-do you know me?"

For a moment, a sudden panic welled up in her. What if this virtual Ron Stoppable clone reacted at the sight of her the way the real Ron Stoppable reacted forty years ago when he saw the Undead Kim? And what if she reacted the same way again? This evil side that her grandnephew had tamed…what if it broke loose? What if she suffered a relapse?

She need not have feared. At the sound of her voice, the image turned it's head. 'It' became 'he'. His eyes lit up and he smiled warmly. "Hello, K.P."

That single remark opened the floodgate of her heart. A torrent of emotion poured out. Kim huddled on the floor and sobbed for what seemed many minutes.

Holo-Ron sat on the floor beside her and waited for the affecting outpouring to grow less. When at last, Kim's intense catharsis subsided, he softly spoke. "I've missed you, Kim," he said sadly.

Kim sniffled and stared transfixed. At last she spoke. "Ron...it...it's really you."

He shook his head. "Not really. Just a hologram. I've been programmed to respond just like the real 'me'. When my son Lon asked Wynan Load to write the program, none of us had the slightest guess what really happened to you...except..." He grimaced with disgust. "...Her...Tara."

"And now?"

The image shrugged. "People can tell me things and I can remember. Wilmont Load updated my virtual memory...or whatever you call it. Me 'n' computers...not the match made in heaven."

"Can you think?"

"It isn't like full-blown Artificial Intelligence, Kim. And don't ask me how it works...but within a range of questions, I can respond."

"How big a range?"

Ron held his hands apart his entire arm span. "Artificial Intelligence response range...this much. Ronald Stoppable response range..." He held his hands a foot apart. "...This much."

She asked the burning question. "Ron...why didn't you search for me?"

His look became profoundly sorrowful. "I did, K.P. Heck, the whole world did. I couldn't begin to tell you who. All the police, and all the military, and all the heroes, and people, and just everybody. And me. I went berserk. There wasn't one place I didn't think of that I didn't look. I climbed mountains. I infiltrated lairs. I wore the Valkryie shoes. I went back over the places they had covered. I looked for some clue...'cause I knew you better than anyone else. I convinced Dr. Zeruda to let me sit under the Project Phoebus thingy...it was my last shot...and then I spend the next week after that in front of Wade's computer hunting every lead I could think of...day and night, nonstop...until the Phoebus genius effect wore off. I was a wreck. I went to your funeral...and then I stayed in my room for months. And at the end of it all, one person kept coming."

"Tara."

"Yeah."

"Ron...am I beautiful?"

He grinned goofily. "Yeah. You are."

Kim was exasperated. "Dammit, Ron, that is so a pat answer! Can you even see me?"

"Sure, I can...see you and hear you, I mean. I've gotta be able to see your facial expressions and hear what you say to be interactive."

"And I don't look like a Zombie Mayhem creature to you?"

"Like I said, Kim...I'm just a holographic interface. I'm programmed for the responses the real me had...to act whiney, be a Sunshine Spreader, remember cheat codes for Everlot and Fortress, and fave on my kids...plus my pants are programmed to fall down randomly."

Kim scowled. "...And being scared of monkeys, bugs, and lawn ornaments. So the real you would've run screaming for dear life if you saw something like me. How does your programming resolve that contradiction?"

He frowned. "Now that's a tough one. Gimme a minute to crunch the data." He pondered for a moment. "The best I can explain it is...if the holographic me runs into a thing that might cause two opposite responses from the real me, the holographic me is programmed to go with the stronger response. My virtual memory is too small to try and resolve the contradiction the way a real mind would. The biggest urge in my program is how I feel about you."

"And if I were to ask whether you love me? Would you really answer the way the real you would?"

"Dr. Zeruda showed Lon how to upload my brainwaves into a computer. The only way I can answer a question is how the real me would. I can't help it. So, yeah. You ask, and I'll answer. I love you."

"You tried to kill me, you know."

"I can't answer about that. The real me didn't update the hologram me after that. All I know is, you tried to kill my family. You've been threatening to kill my kids."

Kim became irate. "I've been in hell, Ron! You chopped me up with your damned Lotus Master Sword! How did you expect me to act?"

Holo-Ron looked intently at her. "The Kim I knew loved kids. She was Middleton's most popular babysitter. The real me was never much of a deep thinker, Kim, but I gotta ask myself...and you. If I'm not the real Ron...are you the real Kim?"

Kim nodded. "You bring up a good point," she acknowledged. She brightened. "There is someone, Ron...someone I've grown to love very much."

Holo-Ron's eyes glowed with curiosity. "Who's the lucky guy?"

She frowned. "It's not like that, you goof! He isn't a boyfriend!"

Holo-Ron grinned. "Yeah...now that's the K.P. I know and love."

"It's my nephew...my grandnephew...your grandson."

"Oh, yeah. Ronnie. Kim's boy...ya know...my daughter. Helluva kid. Wish the real me coulda known 'im."

"Ron...why did you name your little girl after me...'Kimberly Ann'?"

Holo-Ron became serious. "K.P...do ya really hafta hear it? After all this time? You know the answer. I loved you. I missed you. Hell, I wanted her to be yours. I wanted her to have red hair, green eyes, and an explosive temper. But she's got Tara's hair, Tara's eyes, and my temper. But am I gonna love her any less?"

Kim bristled again. " 'Explosive temper'? Is that how you see me?"

Holo-Ron took her temper in stride. "K.P. C'mon. Ya don't have to be defensive. And I don't have to be timid. It's me. Your B.F.F. We can say it like is."

She sighed. "You're right, Ron. Yeah, my temper's explosive. Hell, it's what made me want to kill Tara. If some supervillain wanted me to turn evil, that would so be the perfect way to do it."

They both chuckled.

"Both Tara and Ron told me your marriage basically ended that night," she continued, "When I broke out and attacked your fam."

"Wilmont Load filled in the blanks for that one. She was dead to me, Kim. And I was dead to her. I let her touch me two times after that night...when we danced at our kids' weddings."

_(...After many hours...)_

They were both helpless with laughter. They sat next against the wall, watching a holographic projection of Ron's Big Day...the home movie of his first time on a toilet.

"Oh, Ron! My sides hurt. You on the little potty!"

"Yeah...I was so proud of myself. I pooped and pissed both...my first time on it!" And he imitated himself. "I made a potty!"

Kim held her stomach and burst into fresh guffaws. "Oh, Ron! Please stop! Oh, God...it hurts! I can't stand it!"

"I love this, Kim. Hanging with you. Recalling old times. Listening to you laugh. I didn't know how bad I missed it. Did you and Ronnie do this every night?"

"Every night."

"Lucky ducks. Both of you."

She sighed with pleasure. "Oh my God. I haven't laughed like this since I got stuck in here."

"Hey...it's like I used to say. Laughter is the best medicine. Unless, you know, you have an acute case of the giggles. Then the cure is worse than the condition."

It sent Kim into another laughing fit. "I just wish I could pinch that cute little tush!"

"So do I, Kimba. Wish I could pinch yours back."

"I'm not really talking to you...am I?" asked Kim sadly.

Holo-Ron nodded. " 'Fraid not, K.P. It's Wade's holographic simulation...Wynan's personality upgrade... little stuff like Dr. Freeman's and Dr. Porter's fine adjustments…my brainwaves...and it was Lon's class project to put 'em all together."

"And you aren't waiting for me outside."

"Wish I were. That'd be a badical fairytale. No...like they told me...I'm dead and buried...maybe lookin' down from heaven and wishin' I was here with you...or wishin' you were up there with me."

"The only one waiting for me is your grandson."

"K.P...I'm tellin' ya...that kid logged gazillions of hours talkin' to me while he grew up. The real me used to get on my kids for spending so much time on a computer."

"Like I used to get on you."

"Exactly. But Ronnie...it wasn't enough for him. He wanted the real thing. He wanted a real hero to talk to...one of us."

Kim sighed. "I guess I became his wish fulfillment."

Ron shrugged. "You could do worse. I'm here for you, too, Kim...the virtual me."

"I'm afraid, Ron."

"What of?"

"Of going outside. Of being a monster. Your family is afraid I'll kill them."

"Will you?"

"Not anymore. Your Ronnie...he got to me."

"Yeah...a chip off the old block. Remember what we talked about the time Erik Drake captured us?"

Kim laughed. "Erik? OhmyGod! I hardly think of him!"

"What was it you said?"

" 'Is there someone really out there for me?' I asked you."

"And I'll tell ya now what I told ya then. 'Out there...in here.' "

Kim sighed. "Your grandson isn't you, Ron. He loves his Aunt Kim...but...you know what I mean. I wanted to be your bride, and the mother of your children."

Holo-Ron nodded. "I know. And it sucks. I'm not me, either. Tara messed up what we might've had together."

They were scarce a millimeter apart. Close enough to evoke like it was in the old treehouse, or TV together on the sofa, but just barely not touching. It might destroy the illusion of not being Kim and Ron as they were…of being Undead Kim and Holo-Ron. They were silent for a moment.

"Ron…this is ferociously awk-weird. Getting to talk to you…in a way…years after you're dead. Like this whole sitch was put together by Wade, Dr. Freeman, Vivian Porter, and your kids. I kinda feel like it's a chance to make things right between us. But I'm afraid of making a crutch out of stuff like this. Do you follow what I'm saying? Like I'll be too dependent. And I never let myself depend on people very much…except for you."

"Like I told ya, K.P...I'm here for ya. Just log on, and I'll talk your ear off. But take this advice for what it's worth...tell yourself it ain't the real me. Ronnie made you a righteous deal. He wants to let you out. He wants his heroine. Don't turn into an upgrade of an interactive K.P. hologram."

"It's ironic, Ron...us talking about letting me out...like you let me out of the sarcophagus at the Tri-City Museum."

He laughed. "Yeah...like that. I was afraid of a mummy coming after me."

"But it was me...tweaked as hell."

"Then be you again...tweaked as hell, if you want! When Ronnie opens that sarcophagus...what's he gonna find?"

"Ron! I'm a ghoul! A Zombie Mayhem girl! I'm Undead!"

"The kid's got some crazy schemes in his head. He's full of dreams where the prince wakes the princess with a kiss. Work with him, Kim. You and him are Possibles. You can do anything."

"He told me the same thing last night."

"There ya go!"

"But what if it **doesn't** work? What if I stay...how I am?"

"K.P...d'ya **wanna** be stuck in here forever and always? Freaking out over the video of Tara and my wedding? Talking to Ronnie through a pipe? Watching reruns of Agony County?"

Kim was silent for a long time. She looked up at the holo-Ron. "You don't look bored...we're just sitting here while I'm thinking."

He shrugged. "The holographic me doesn't have any real-time awareness...virtual memory issues again. And the real me was never bored with you. Time with you was time well spent. Besides," he grinned, "The Ron-Man is all about marinating."

"Ron...thank you. It's been a world of help to talk to you. It made me think. And I promise I'll think more about what you told me." She laughed. "This is so weird! It's like we're back at Bueno Nacho...opening up like this! And you sound even wiser than you ever did in high school! In fact...I'll call it awk-weird. It's like talking with my 'rents."

"The goofy kid you knew from those days hadda grow up quick after you disappeared, Kim. I learned to be responsible. Wade and your dad wanted to shut down the website. The Tweebs wanted to do missions, but everyone told them they were too young. Joss wanted to do missions, but there was the distance factor from Montana."

Kim nodded. "Ron...I mean Ronnie...I mean my nephew...you know who I mean…he told me."

"It was a rough couple years carryin' on the tradition by myself...until your brothers and Joss got old enough."

"Ron...I hope I don't hurt you if I tell you I might not activate your program."

"Like I said. Not the real me. It wouldn't break my heart."

"I'm hesitant, Ron. This is like the last time I'll be talking to Ron Stoppable."

"I know. But trust me. The real me would be stoked you're getting outa this mausoleum. That kid out there...he's more the real Ron than I am. You get the hell out...and don't look back. Live your life...for both of us. And we'll meet on the other side."

"Ron..." said Kim quickly...just like the night she told her nephew she loved him.

"K.P.?"

"Kiss me...please and thank you." It wasn't quite a demand...more of a gentle insistent request.

Holo-Ron's eyes twinkled with whimsy. He stooped. His immaterial lips touched Kim's shriveled lips.

She had seen it in a movie...a girl kissing her boyfriend's ghost. She was expecting...something...she didn't know what. But there was no sensation.

The beloved face with the goofy grin and the honest eyes faded from view.

Kim hugged the Kimmunicator to her bosom. Over and over, her lips moved silently. _I love you, Ron Stoppable._

_**to be continued**_


	4. Chapter 4

Larry! you sly You sly dog! You're a newlywed! Happy 2nd Anniversary!

Whitem; PM. Quoth Motor Ed: "Dude! It rocks! Seriously!" But now you can tell me what you think of mine.

There are several high points in this story that I labored over again and again. One is what I call, as I mentioned earlier, the Glorious Redemption. Another is the first face-to-face meeting of Ronald Zimmer Possible and his Heroine.

Between those highlights is this little juncture. It represents one more stage in Ron's great quest to draw the heart of his Heroine out of its generations-long ordeal.

I read two stories as a teenager, back in the 1960's that touched me deeply. I've been searching for them again. One was from Reader's Digest. It was a true account.

A girl had been horribly abused. She behaved like an animal, and was kept under restraint. Those responsible for her treatment concluded she had to work off her rage. Someone needed to step into the padded room wherein she was incarcerated and volunteer to be the passive physical recipient of all her fury. Understandably, nobody rushed to be the first…except a psych grad student.

Daily this astonishing exemplar of humanity entered the patient's room. The abused girl screamed at, scratched, bit, hit, kicked…on and on. The details of the story were harrowing. And at the end of the session, when the poor young lady would huddle in the corner, her passion spent for another day, the psych student, not having lifted a finger in her defense, bruised and bleeding, would tell her, "I love you…I love you…" It brought to mind accounts of Our Lord on His Cross, or deaths of the martyrs. And eventually the strategy worked. The former abuse victim was able to resolve her anger. Would such a treatment be used today? I don't know.

The second story was from Children's Digest, no longer published. It was a Chinese legend. A woman came to a sage and asked how to regain her husband's love.

The sage said he could prepare a love potion. But he needed a crucial ingredient: tiger's whiskers.

The woman was appalled. How could she get such an item.

The sage shrugged. That was her affair.

A tiger lived in the hills behind her village. Over the course of many nights, she gradually approached him, showing him to become acclimated to her presence. She brought food for him. Finally, he would tolerate her and even allow her to stroke him. One night, she took a pair of scissors and snipped off some of his whiskers.

She took the precious ingredient for this miraculous love potion to the sage.

And the sage merely tossed them into his fireplace.

The poor woman was appalled all over again. Did he know the trouble she had gone through to obtain that?

So he asked: did she kill the tiger?

No, she said. And she described the protracted process she had engaged in to win the tiger's trust.

Do the same with your husband, the sage said.

On these two stories has much of the material in my story arc been based.

Oh, yeah. The Biblical and Shakespearean quotes at the beginning of this chpt. There's a point to those. Hey! With me, there always is! :D Look for 'em in the story.

_**A HEROINE'S LEGACY**_

_**THE KIMMUNICATOR GIFT**_

_**chpt 4**_

_**beholding with unveiled face; a faithful vow to the goddess of his idolatry**_

But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord._ 2 Corinthians 3:18_

Juliet. Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, / Which mannerly devotion shows in this; / For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, / And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss. _ THE TRAGEDY OF ROMEO AND JULIET, by William Shakespeare, ACT I, Scene V._

Juliet. ...Good night, good night! As sweet repose and rest / Come to thy heart as that within my breast!

Romeo. O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?

Juliet. What satisfaction canst thou have to-night?

Romeo. Th' exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine. _THE TRAGEDY OF ROMEO AND JULIET, by William Shakespeare, ACT II, Scene II. _

Juliet. …Or if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self, / Which is the god of my idolatry, / And I'll believe thee._ THE TRAGEDY OF ROMEO AND JULIET, by William Shakespeare, ACT II, Scene II. _

It was time for their daily evening conversation via the pipe. Ronald Zimmer Possible came downstairs to the pump room. "Hi, Aunt Kim."

"Hi, Ron."

Their conversation meandered over various frivolous topics. Then Kim broached a question. "Ron...you've given me so much. What can I give you?"

Ron worked up his nerve. "As Romeo said to Juliet...The exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine."

Kim laughed nervously. "Ron...I get it by now...you're a total Shakespearean bookworm...but you sound like you're hitting on me...which is awk-weird enough...'cause we're fam...but trust me when I tell you...I'm so not the sexiest thing you've ever had a chance to ogle at."

"Let me explain, Aunt Kim. It's during the balcony scene..."

Kim sighed audibly with impatience.

"...Good point. I'll cut to the chase."

"Please and thank you."

"Romeo wanted from Juliet what he gave to her...the declaration of love. You've seen my face...and I want to see yours."

Kim gasped. She trembled. And a sudden thrill of terror shot through her.

"...I want to see you, Aunt Kim. Eye to eye. Face to face."

Kim was evasive. "Ron...I'm not...ready."

And Ron was insistent. "Why?"

"Why? Hell, Ron...I'm a damned corpse!"

"As Romeo says to Juliet, O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?"

"**Ron**...be **serious**!"

"Never been more serious, Aunt Kim."

She sulked. "Your grandfather used to say that."

"Make it a 'Virtual Kim'. C'mon, Aunt Kim. From what you've said, I infer you're proficient by now in some of the functions. So…do I have to do the Puppy Dog Pout? I've been practicing it, you know."

Kim grumbled. "So random…the both of you! My partner and my nephew! Just a minute...let me adjust this thing."

Ron chuckled. "That's the thing with randomness. It's part of the Essential Ron-ness."

She fiddled with the controls. "Now...how will this work?"

"For the purposes of virtual reality, your Kimmunicator will transmit a virtual clone to my location, and project a virtual environment at your locality."

"So I can see where my virtual clone will be."

"See and hear...but not touch. The simulation of the virtual reality isn't quite a complete sensory replication."

"Grr! Nerdspeak!" The familiar walls of the cistern started to fade away. "Ron...this is a little weird for me...it's like being outside."

"That's the effect of the hologram interface field. It's a little disorienting at first."

"I call it unnerving, dear nephew!"

"Baby steps, Aunt Kim." He caught the edge in her voice. He tried to reassure her.

Last night's sense of panic started to well up in her. She could cope with the presence of Ron Stoppable's virtual clone. He was familiar. His grandson Ron Possible was still not a personal encounter. What if she lost her nerve?

A shimmering image appeared in front of Ron. He was as excited as the father of a newborn infant.

A life-sized hologram shimmered into view. It came into sharp resolution. It was…it was…

It was Kim as she had looked before her entombment. An eighteen year old girl dressed in her crop top and Capri pants.

She smiled nervously. "Um…hi, Ron."

Ron folded his arms on his chest. His brow puckered and his mouth was a thin line.

Kim was crestfallen. "Ron...that looks awfully Puppy-Poutish."

"Aunt Kim...that's not what I meant...and you know it."

"Ron...try to think how this is from my perspective." Holo-Kim blanched with consternation. "You don't understand...how I look. Even I haven't seen my face in forty years. And when I did, it scared the hell out of me. My first Ron could hardly stand to look at me. Please. I'm begging you...can't this wait?"

Ron put on an overdone mope. "Puppy Dog Pout."

Holo-Kim pouted herself. "Ron! Be serious! You and I have some so far! What if you freak out? You're my Second Ron! I don't think I could stand it" Before she realized, Kim had spoken it..._her Second Ron_. It slipped out. She only thought of it then.

Kim stood as though before her actual nephew. She felt uncovered…exposed. But the look in his eyes. It thrilled him. And that warmed her.

"Aunt Kim," he said softly. "Trust your Second Ron. Don't be afraid. I'm going to close my eyes. When I open them, I want to see you...as you really look."

Dismay shone in her eyes. "Ron...please..."

"I promise you, Aunt Kim...on my love for you…no freakage." Ron closed his eyes, waited a moment, and slowly opened them...

He braced himself. His gaze lifted from her feet to her face. The limbs were skeletal. The skin was a sickly grey. The capris and crop top were tattered vestiges of garments. The toes and fingers looked clawlike. The toenails and fingernails looked horny and ragged. Her ribs and shoulders looked like they might poke through her skin. Her neck was scrawny. Her hair was limp and ratty. And her face…

Her jaw was skull-like. Her cheeks looked like little sunken canyons on her face. She hardly had nostrils or lips. They were just cracks on her face like the cracks in drought-parched soil. Her lips and eyelids were shriveled folds of membrane. Her yellowed teeth and glaring eyes peeped through. It was every bit as gruesome as he had anticipated. But it was far easier than he had expected. The expression on her face and the look in her eyes tugged at his heart. It was all there. Fear. Abandonment. Awful, terrible loneliness. The struggle not to lapse back into hatred and despair. The struggle to believe that love and redemption existed somewhere in the universe. For one who had the eyes to see it, he story of her existence since she was buried was there to be read.

As Sensei Yoriko had directed him...to look past the hatred into the soul...to see the heart.

It was not the fearful monster...it was the fearfully afflicted young girl. Any lingering sense of dreadfulness utterly died. She was a hapless little waif. He suppressed a sob of happiness. At long last...he gazed upon the object of his devotion. "Aunt Kim...you're beautiful."

Kim had braced herself for the inevitable disgust and loathing. She saw the deep sadness in his eyes...and assumed it was revulsion. Her heart plummeted. She saw his sudden smile...and assumed it was cruel mockery. Her mouth twisted as she heard his compliment. The old reaction asserted itself. "You're a damned liar, dear nephew!"

He slowly reached out to her, to try and reassure her, to beckon her. "Aunt Kim...I'm not playing you. I'm being honest."

And the hologram backed up a step. "No, you're not! Don't touch me!"

Ron was dismayed. She was slipping back into irrationality. "Aunt Kim. I can't hurt you. I wouldn't dream of hurting you."

Kim pointed an accusing finger and began to rave. "The last person who ever touched me was my first Ron!...your grandfather! He has just sliced me to pieces with that damned Lotus Blade! He picked up my head by the hair and tossed it on a canvas tarp with the rest of me! I'm a rotting corpse...a pile of bones!"

"Aunt Kim...!"

Her voice became a screech. "You fake! You lying fraud! There's nothing beautiful about me! That girl died sixty years ago. All that's left is this monster!"

Ron frowned. His outstretched hand shone with blue radiance. The tenor of his voice became deep and harsh. "Kimberly Ann Possible!" He raised a stern finger of admonishment. "Hush! And let me finish talking!"

Kim was stunned by the unaccustomed rebuke. "Ron!" She backed up another step. She cowed. Her Second Ron was addressing her in an authoritative voice…a parental voice…a voice like James Timothy Possible. "Nobody's talked to me that way since the last time I saw..." She struggled to say it. "…I saw…"

Ron was bewildered. "Aunt Kim?"

"…Since I saw…" And her face dissolved into weeping. "...Daddy!" She broke down, crying. She huddled on the floor, hugging herself. "You sounded like him! Like my…father!"

Her nephew was stricken. "Aunt Kim…I'm…I'm sorry…"

She buried her face in her arms. "Please, Ron," she sobbed, "Please don't hate me!"

"Aunt Kim…I **don't** hate you! Not for a second! I could **never** hate you." Ron felt as helpless as Kim looked. Her moods changed like the blink of an eye. He knelt on the floor beside her image and reached out with a glowing blue hand. "Aunt Kim," he said softly, "I didn't mean rebuke you! I didn't mean to be unkind...please...I'm so sorry..." He instinctively tried to grasp the image of his aunt's hand.

Kim suddenly acted startled. "Huh...? How...?" She looked up and gasped. "Wha...? How can...?" In the midst of her crying jag, she lifted her face and stared at her nephew in shock. "Ron...this is…this is…so weird. I can feel your touch." She slowly extended an immaterial hand. It gleamed with pearly luminescence.

The two hands faced palm to palm. Ron moved his hand back and forth, letting it drift to and fro through her holographic hand.

In the cistern, Kim was incredulous. She was stunned into silence. What she had sought from the hologram of her long-dead Beloved was revealing itself in his grandson...she experienced a physical sensation.

Ron stared also, incredulous. Then he laughed softly. He lapsed into an old habit. "For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss" He let the immortal words of another speak for him as he tried to curl his fingers around Kim's fingers. A palmer was a penitent, a medieval pilgrim to the Holy Land, who bore palm leaves as a sign of his pilgrimage. He was the pilgrim and she the saint whom he had sought out…his patroness.

Kim was stunned. She didn't recognize the immediate quote…and she hardly dared to ask…but she caught the import of his words. _**He's**__ the one with this incredible ability...and he's calling __**me**__ a saint. _"Ron...you said the virtual replication didn't include the sense of touch."

"Aunt Kim…I don't think this is the holographic technology. I think it's the Mystical Monkey Power."

Kim was not Ron's equal in metaphysics and philosophy. She knew that and accepted it. She couldn't think of anyone who might be…except the old Sensei of Yamanouchi. But she had studied chi energy and its application to marital arts. She knew about chakras and energy flow…or thought she did. "H-how? How are you…doing this?"

"I…I don't honestly know." He gazed into his aunt's shocked eyes. He was as bewildered as her. It was as Sensei Yoriko had said...he was an untested quality. No one really knew what his command of the Mystical Monkey Power was. He shrugged and smiled. "It's like that movie...the guy's spirit able to touch and kiss his girlfriend."

Kim nodded dazedly. She was astounded. She had seen the might of the Mystical Monkey Power when called forth by her Beloved. It was a formidable weapon against foes like the Lowardians. In the hands of his grandson, it was also a healing influence, as gentle as a caress.

The two hands contrasted...her translucent hand and his shimmering blue hand. He touched the cheek of the hologram…no…he corrected himself…he touched the cheek of his Heroine. "Aunt Kim...you're made in the image of God. But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image… Your hand is beautiful. Your eyes are beautiful. **You're** beautiful. I'm looking at my Izanami…my Beatrice...and I love you."

Kim sighed hesitantly. She forced herself not to flinch as she saw his hand approach her face. "For real, Ron? You aren't playing me?"

Those names. _Izanami_…some Japanese goddess. _Beatrice_…some Italian Renaissance noblewoman. He had mentioned them often during their nightly conversations. They had something to do with chivalry and legend and nerdy stuff. And she regarded it as trivially as she used to regard cousin Larry's mutterings.

But the gentle stroke of his palm on her cheek and under her chin…it could not be trivialized. She unconsciously closed her eyes and leaned her head against his hand, savoring the sensation.

He smiled a most Ron-shine smile. For real. "On a stack of Bibles, Aunt Kim. On a tray of nacos. Under a hundred Yellow Truth Rays.

A significant moment was unfolding. For the first time since she left her parents' house to meet her boyfriend at Lake Middleton, Kim looked into a friendly face...the face of one who was seeing her true appearance, who was not intent on killing her, or trapping her, or terrified of her. And for the first time in his life, Ron could behold his living heroine, eye to eye.

In her cistern prison, Kim trembled with emotion. The warmth on her hand. The soft caress on her cheek. Sixty years had elapsed since the last loving touch. Sixty years since the last compliment. Her nephew meant what he said. He was sincere. "Th-thank you, Ron. I-I love you, too."

Slowly, hesitatingly, haltingly, tentatively, they got to their knees, and then to their feet.

Kim studied the face. The resemblance was uncanny. Her Ron's goofy half grin. Her Ron's brown-eyed gaze. "You're so tall...taller than your grandfather...a lot taller than me."

He was practically the height of Mr. Dr. P. in his prime. He shrugged. The grin became goofier. "It's like what you told Grandpa Tim...the minimum height requirement for missions." He held up a hand to about her height. "I must be this tall to ride. I figure I needed to uphold the family tradition."

Kim stifled a laugh. "You are a complete dork. You are so totally abnormal."

Ron winked. "Yep. That's another family tradition. Never be normal. Part of the Essential Ron-ness."

Kim stifled another giggle. She wanted to choose her words carefully. Nothing must disturb this precious moment. "My first Ron's virtual clone...he told me I looked beautiful, too."

He nodded. He opened his mouth to reciprocate…to continue the conversation.

"Of course you are."

The conversation hit a sudden lull. They both smiled nervously, and shuffled their feet, at a loss for words.

Wracking his brain, Ron reached for a random topic. "You know...now that I think about it, one of the things that struck me about his clone was that he found it strange not to be programmed for hunger. He didn't know how to handle not feeling the urge to go to Bueno Nacho every two or three hours."

There…just something to say…to go on with their heart-to-heart talk. There was no need for haste.

And he immediately berated himself. It was the kind of stupid remark a guy would make when on a date with a fantastically gorgeous woman. It was something he often did around Mariko. It was something Stoppable men did since the genesis

of spoken language.

But Kim seized on the topic. "Ron! You're right! I hadn't thought of that until you mentioned it just now! Well...are you hungry? I mean...I could wait if you wanted to go and feed your face."

Ron shook his head. "Oh, Aunt Kim...eating is the last thing on my mind. I mean, you're here. We're almost face to face. I should be offering you something to eat or drink."

Kim laughed. A boisterous joyous laugh.. "Ron! I couldn't eat a bite! What you're seeing is holographic! Besides…I haven't eaten in forever!"

They both lapsed into giggling. And so by fits and starts, with stumblings and hesitations, they slowly navigated their way through this virgin world of a face-to-face meeting.

"Well...what now?"

It was a moment of mutual bashfulness, like the meeting of twins separated from birth...or the first face-to-face encounter of two pen pals who had become lovers through their written letters.

Kim was breathless with bliss. It was a miracle...that the two of should be able to meet and talk in friendship. And yet he made it seem so casual. A wish came to her heart...for the night not to end like other nights, where they each said their good-night and parted company. _I granted him his wish. He got to see me. Can't he grant me my wish? I can so do this...I'm a Possible...he's a Possible...we can do anything._ "Ron?" she asked shyly, "Would you stay down here? With me?"

Ron's heart skyrocketed. The request overjoyed him. _Thank You, Lord...she's finding her spirit._ The grin blossomed. "That would be bon-diggity." Immediately, he made himself at home. He sat cross-legged on the floor, next to his heroine, whom he adored...his lady...his champion...his goddess, the goddess of his idolatry, were he to believe less in God.

Kim recalled how once upon a time she had tentatively asked for something that was a matter of life and death at the time. The money from her father to buy a new Club Banana green leather coat

"_Good morning! How's my teen hero."_

"_So, Daddy, what do you think of this jacket? For me? Just because?"_

Kim was rewarded by a joyous smile on the face of her Second Ron. He would stay with his teen hero. His Heroine. For her. Just because. And for no other reason than that it was what she wished, and asked for.

The old conniving Machiavellian part of her took note. Despite his formidable powers and intellect, he was still a kid at heart. If she ever wanted to play him, this was the way to do it. He loved her with all the love that Mr. Dr. P. had for a daughter and Ronald Eugene Stoppable had for a partner and Best Friend Forever. Just promise him more of her, and she could lead him by the nose. Just act all sweet and little-girly, and he was as a lamb to the slaughter.

But she suppressed the thought. The slightest glimpse of her face and display of her temper would suffice to reduce her First Ron's family, his wife Tara and their sons to whimpering, terror-stricken vestiges of humanity. What she had subjected her Second Ron to on a nightly basis for the past several months would have driven anyone else mad with horror. Did he not even now gaze upon her and proclaim her beautiful? No. She would not tamper with this precious moment…or this precious relationship.

So commenced an all-nighter of simple conversation. A visitor would have seen an agreeable but unimpressive, silly looking young man sitting to next to a nightmare apparition...a decomposed skeletal corpse with stringy hair, yellowed teeth, and lidless eyes. But physical appearances are not necessarily reality.

In her place of confinement, Kim could hardly keep still. She wanted to dance and leap for the thrill in her soul. She wanted to laugh for joy. She wanted to cry tears of bliss and elation. A thousand emotions struggled to express themselves. Her heart was full to overflowing. So she only sat still and held her peace. Her Ron was here.

And what was clear in her understanding somehow kept getting misconstrued in her feelings. Was it her first, or her second Ron? Her Beloved or her nephew? But she brushed it aside. Did it even matter?

They spent the night gazing upon one another...telling stories, laughing, or simply silent. Every so often, they would recline on one elbow, or the other elbow. And every so often, one would reach a hand out, and the other would do the same. Their hands passed through each other's like the wind through the leaves of a tree...but just because they could not touch did not mean that they could not feel.

And so the wish of Ronald Eugene Stoppable was granted to his grandson Ronald Zimmer Possible...to share the cistern captivity of Kimberly Ann Possible.

_**to be continued**_

A/N

And now we come to a fork in the road. This is as far as I had planned originally on coming with this little teaser.

...cried Ahab; then pausing, "...What say ye, men...?"_ MOBY DICK; or, THE WHALE By Herman Melville, CHAPTER 36. The Quarter-Deck. _

What say ye, my readers? Pausing, or continuing?

As if I didn't already know. :D


	5. Chapter 5

Gad. Me and my plot bunny relate to each other about as well as a couple on a disastrous blind date.

_**A HEROINE'S LEGACY**_

_**THE KIMMUNICATOR GIFT**_

_**chpt 5**_

_**just random talk**_

…_They spent the night gazing upon one another...telling stories, laughing, or simply silent. Every so often, they would recline on one elbow, or the other elbow. And every so often, one would reach a hand out, and the other would do the same. Their hands passed through each other's like the wind through the leaves of a tree...but just because they could not touch did not mean that they could not feel…_

Kim watched her grandnephew as intently as she used to watch Joshua Wendell Mankey in a former life. She studied every nuance. The way he smiled smugly and lifted an eyebrow when he facetiously referred to himself as " the Ron-man." So like her first Ron. The way he smirked when he zinged her with a pun. So like her Tweeby brothers. The way he was silent when lost in thought. So like her father. The way compassion and empathy seemed to emanate from him. So like her mother.

She wanted to be somewhere so she run to him and hug him, as she used to do when he came back from Yamanouchi…or the Christmas when he went on a solo mission against Drakken and Shego so she could be with her fam. She wanted to be able to pillow his head on her lap while he watched Snowman Hank…

…And Kim gasped to herself. _So the preoccupation. Daydream much?_ she asked herself with some slight bitterness. That was another generation…another time and place…a whole 'nother life…another Ron…

That was two generations ago…she was a high school student with a badical boyfriend whom she loved. Then her life took a turn straight out of a horror movie. She was sealed up…buried alive.

That Ron was dead. And so was the perpetrator of the ghoulish crime, Tara. So was Drakken. So were her parents. And, with tragic irony, so was she.

Her mother the neurosurgeon might say Kim was presenting with symptoms of confusion, an indication of progressive mental deterioration. And an EEG test would indicate no brain wave activity. Wade might put it in terms of having bad sectors in her hard drive. Wade was dead, too.

But to this new Ron, her second Ron, none of that mattered. He had worked miracles. He had saved her world. He had reached across the gulf caused by her hatred of her murderer.

She thought of his favorite saying…besides the one where he said he loved her. According him, his mother, Kimberly Ann Stoppable had invented it. _Ron Stoppable hated irony…but Ron Possible loves paradox._

He himself was a living paradox. An amalgam of both Stoppable and Possible traits. Randomness and purpose. Her decayed face did not frighten him. Her lifelessness did not appall him.

It was by her decision that they related in this manner, through their virtual clones, their holographic forms. It was another irony. After sixty years of imprisonment, he had, in effect, left the door to her cell unlocked. She could exit at any time. But, though her anger was gone, her suspicion and reluctance remained. So he drew her out with a gentle hand…slowly…gradually…with infinite patience…the way she used to accustom a new babysitting client to her presence…the way an animal rescuer would draw out an abused pet. It was all very Zen.

Kim had let her attention wander. _Head in the game,_ she told herself. Ron was asking her about her talk with his grandfather's virtual interactive the night before.

"So...you talked with Grandpa...the virtual Ron Stoppable clone."

"For hours. It was a good thing. I got a lot settled in my head."

"That's cool. That's really good."

"You look like you're thinking."

"Well...I'm wondering...should I have given you the Kimmunicator weeks ago?"

"No. I wasn't in any condition to deal with it. I would've just ejected it back up the pipe and told you to insert it up your...well, you get what I mean."

He laughed. "I do. You almost sound like you watched Medical Emergency."

"I thought about it...but I wanted to see all the other stuff...the home videos and pictures. You were cute as a baby."

He shrugged. "I suppose. Thank you. I was thinking of uploading other shows into your Kimmunicator."

She looked at him skeptically, out of the corner of her eye. "Like..."

He smiled slyly. "Oh...Scamper And Bitey...Star Passage...Captain Constellation...Global Wrestling...X-treme X-mas..."

She glared at him. "Dork! If you know me like you say you do, you know I can't stand those shows!"

"...The 'Real' North Pole."

She sputtered. "Ugh! Please! Gag me! Then I so would've shot the Kimmunicator back up the pipe...and aimed for your mouth...or butt!"

Ron smirked. "Aw, Aunt Kim...you just miss being in an igloo."

Kim smiled sardonically. "Creep...you never sat on a raw fish, did you?"

He laughed. "No...never have. You'll have to show me what it's like."

They bantered each other mercilessly, like old friends. There was warmth, and laughter, and joy.

The conversation drifted to other topics.

"So Mari's seeing Carl."

Ron nodded.

"Is she over you?"

"I don't know. I don't think in those terms. I just want her to be happy."

"And you? Are you over her?"

"I don't think much about that, either. My head was totally into you."

"Now you sound like my first Ron."

"That's good, isn't it?"

She nodded. "Oh, yes. Most def. Ferociously good." Her hand played with his blue radiance. "My first Ron had to sort of meditate...like they do for martial arts. Do you have to do anything to...you know...make it come?"

Ron shook his head. "Nope. It's like breathing. I just sort of...do it."

"A lot?"

"Rarely. I've done it more tonight than ever in my entire life."

"Does it drain you? Like some kind of power expenditure?"

"No...at least not yet."

"How old were you when you could make it happen?"

He laughed. "Puberty."

Kim laughed too. "O-kay. I so won't go there."

"Thank you."

"Could you control it?"

"At first, I could just make it shine. It was a little frightening. I was afraid I had some kind of demonic power. But uncle Lon explained that it was part of the family genetic legacy now."

"Did he show you how to move stuff? Or do the floaty thingy?"

"No. that had to wait until I went to Yamanouchi."

_**to be continued**_

And here I arbitrarily pause our chronicle. I had planned on having this series finished by Christmas 2011. But, hey…Glacial Slowness and all that equivocation.

I let a spoiler slip. At one point in this tale, Ron Possible was dating Yori and Hirotala's daughter, Mariko. But that deep-sixed. Why? For the same reason Ron Stoppable and Yori didn't work. Or Ron Stoppable and Zita Flores. The Partner's preoccupation with his Heroine. The karma is strong. Details pending in one of the other Heroine's Legacy tales.

Preview of coming attractions. Kim's first mission in her new life in a couple chpt.'s

Happy 2012 to us all.


End file.
